Myst was generally praised by critics.
Computer Gaming World assured its readers that the game was not like other CD-ROM games that were "high on glitz and low on substance ...
Myst is everything it's touted to be and is, quite simply, the best [Macintosh] CD-ROM game." It praised the game's
open-world nature, lack of player death, and "straightforward and simple" storyline. The magazine stated that the "mesmerizing" and "stunning" graphics and sound were "not the star of the show ... the substance of the game is every bit as good as its packaging", and concluded that
Myst "is bound to set a new standard". In April 1994, the magazine called it an "artistic masterwork".
Jeff Koke reviewed
Myst in
Pyramid #8 (July/August 1994), and stated: "It is the first adventure game in which I left feeling as though I had visited a real place."
Wired and
The New York Times were among the publications that pointed to
Myst as evidence that video games could, in fact,
evolve into an art form.
Entertainment Weekly reported that some players considered
Mysts "virtual morality" a religious experience.
Aarhus University professor Søren Pold pointed to
Myst as an excellent example of how stories can be told using objects rather than people. Laura Evenson, writing for the
San Francisco Chronicle, pointed to adult-oriented games like
Myst as evidence the
video game industry was emerging from its "adolescent" phase.
GameSpots Jeff Sengstack wrote that "
Myst is an immersive experience that draws you in and won't let you go." Writing about
Mysts reception, Greg M. Smith noted that
Myst had become a hit and was regarded as incredibly immersive despite most closely resembling "the hoary technology of the
slideshow (with accompanying music and effects)". Smith concluded that "
Mysts primary brilliance lies in the way it provides narrative justification for the very things that are most annoying" about the technological constraints imposed on the game; The publication went on to declare
Myst the best game of 1994, stating that
Myst removed the "most annoying parts of adventure games—vocabularies that [you] don't understand, people you can't talk to, wrong moves that get you killed and make you start over. You try to unravel the enigma of the island by exploring the island, but there's no time pressure to distract you, no arbitrary punishments put in your way". Some aspects of the game still received criticism. Several publications did not agree with the positive reception of the story. Jeremy Parish of
1UP.com noted that while its lack of interaction and continual plot suited the game,
Myst contributed to a decline in the adventure game genre.
Edge stated the main flaw with the game was that the
game engine was nowhere near as sophisticated as the graphics. Heidi Fournier of
Adventure Gamers noted a few critics complained about the difficulty and lack of context of the puzzles, while others believed these elements added to the gameplay. Similarly, critics were split on whether the lack of a plot the player could actually change was a good or bad element. In 1996
Next Generation called
Myst "gaming's bleakest hour", saying the static graphics and purely trial-and-error puzzles epitomized poor game design. The magazine said its commercial success, which they owed chiefly to its popularity among non-gamers as a CD-ROM showcase, had led to many other games emulating its negative aspects. In a 2000 retrospective review,
IGN declared that
Myst had not aged well and that playing it "was like watching hit TV shows from the 70s. 'People watched that?,' you wonder in horror." and received an honorable mention in
Electronic Entertainments 1993 "Breakthrough Game" category, which ultimately went to
The 7th Guest. That magazine's editors wrote, "One of the best-looking, best-sounding games ever, the Macintosh version of
Myst sets new standards for the effective use of CD-ROM."
Myst was also a runner-up for
Computer Gaming Worlds 1993 "
Adventure Game of the Year" award, but lost to
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and
Day of the Tentacle (tie). In 1996, the magazine ranked
Myst 11th on its list of the most innovative computer games. Reviews for the game's console ports generally reflected each critic's attitude towards the original game, as critics agreed that the ports for 3DO, Saturn, and PlayStation are virtually identical to the PC original. For example, Sushi-X of
Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the 3DO version a five out of ten, remarking: "The graphics and sounds are decent but the game never really appealed to me on the PC", while his co-reviewer Danyon Carpenter gave it a seven out of ten and assessed that "This game was all the rage when it debuted on the PC, and that excitement should follow through on the 3DO." However, the 3DS version received negative reviews even from critics who felt that
Mysts popularity was merited, citing graphics and audio well below the 3DS's capabilities and the use of awkward circle pad controls in lieu of the 3DS's touchscreen. In the wake of
Mysts sales, other developers sought to capitalize on comparing their games to
Myst, or released "
Myst clones" that sought to replicate its success. Some developers of adventure games concurrent to
Mysts release were critical of the game due to the number of subsequent titles that copied
Mysts style. In comparison, game designer
Josh Mandel said the responsibility belonged to game publishers, who now expected every adventure game to be a
Myst-caliber hit.
Edge, writing in 1998, declared the game's impact mixed, but one that ultimately did more good to the industry than harm, writing that it helped develop PC-based gaming.
Myst helped create a new way of thinking about presentation in video games due to the nature of the CD-ROM: whereas most games before could be viewed as "games of emergence", in which game elements combined in novel and surprising ways to the player,
Myst demonstrated one of the first "games of progression" where the player is guided through predefined sets of encounters. This helped to provide alternative experiences atypical of usual video games, and helped lay the foundations of more experimental
indie video games developed in the 2000s. The game served as a precursor to
casual games, which typically do not require players to act quickly, as well as an early predecessor to the
walking simulators that allow players to explore at their own pace.
Myst became a cultural touchstone of the day; the game was so popular the Miller brothers appeared in advertisements for
The Gap. Actor
Matt Damon wanted
The Bourne Conspiracy video game to be a puzzle game like
Myst, refusing to lend his voice talent to the game when it was turned into a shooter instead.
Myst has also been used for educational and scientific purposes;
Becta recognized a primary school teacher, Tim Rylands, who had made literacy gains using
Myst as a teaching tool, and researchers have used the game for studies examining the effect of video games on aggression. A parody computer game,
Pyst, was released in 1996; the game is a satirical free roam of Myst Island which had been apparently vandalized by frustrated visitors.
Myst was added to
the collection of video games of the
Museum of Modern Art in 2013, where it is displayed as a video presentation.
Mysts success sparked a multimedia franchise.
Riven was released in 1997 and continues
Mysts storyline.
Presto Studios and
Ubisoft developed and published
Myst III: Exile in 2001,
Myst IV: Revelation was developed and published entirely by Ubisoft and released in 2004. The latest game in the franchise is
Myst V: End of Ages, developed by Cyan Worlds and released in 2005. In addition to the main games, Cyan developed
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The multiplayer component of
Uru was initially canceled, but
GameTap eventually revived it as
Myst Online: Uru Live. After
Uru Live was cancelled, the game was released as an open source title. The Miller brothers collaborated with
David Wingrove to produce several novels based on the
Myst universe, which were published by
Hyperion. The novels, entitled
Myst: The Book of Atrus, ''Myst: The Book of Ti'ana
and Myst: The Book of D'ni'', fill in the games' backstory and were packaged together as
The Myst Reader. By 2003, the
Myst franchise had sold over twelve million copies worldwide, with
Myst representing more than six million copies in the figure. Multiple attempts have been made to adapt the games and series into television series and feature films. ==See also==